Birding in My Bathrobe

Early mornings usually find me slow to recover consciousness. The first thing I do is to brew a cup of tea or coffee. I then shuffle to the couch where I sit, sip, and read until I drain the cup, and only then can I force myself off the couch and out the door. That's right, I go out in my zip-up sweatshirt-style bathrobe first thing in the morning all the time, no matter what season it is. (I put on my muck boots first, though.)

I walk with binocs in hand, searching the trees, bushes, and sky for movement. If it's sunny, I perch on one of the rocks in our fields and wait for the birds to come to me. I've even been known to walk a few hundred feet down our mountain road in this attire. That's one of the great things about living in the wilderness. There's no one to know or care what I do. After about a half hour or hour, I go home, eat breakfast, and yes, I do get dressed so that I can get out in the woods without snaring or tearing my bathrobe.


No new migrants this morning. But the mosses and reindeer lichen are so lush--they make the otherwise dull landscape--all grays, browns, and tans--resonate green. I'm trying like crazy to add sketches and drawings to my nature journal, but because I haven't done any art work in about five or six years, I'm finding no end to the mental barriers I'm putting up. Just do it, I say. I'll try again today.

I'm looking out on a dark and dreary world today. It's been raining, not too hard, but after my wilderness excursion with Sophie early this morning, I'd just as soon not hop in the car for the errands I planned to do. So, with most Adirondack hiking trails muddy and uninviting today, I'm settling for being indoors with wildlife.

I'm brushing up on my bird songs online and on CD. Have you ever visited "All about Birds," part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website? I consider it one of the best birding sites. Each individual bird entry includes a link to the song and call of each bird. Besides all the information about bird species, the site also includes several games and even a "Quiz of the Week." Do you have a favorite birding website? If so, please share by leaving a comment.

I'm also reading Coyote: Seeking the Hunter in Our Midst by Catherine Reid. Reid's a wonderful nature writer who lives in Western Massachusetts and her research, observations, and encounters with coyotes make this book a must-read for fans of Canis latrans.

My Viewpoint article "Coyotes of the Adirondacks" will be appearing in the July issue of Adirondack Explorer. I also wrote an article "Women Guides of the Adirondacks" for that issue. If you love the Adirondack wilderness, you'll enjoy getting acquainted with this publication.

Finally! Winds from the South

After an entire week of winds from the north and northwest, at long last we have southern breezes today. And why am I excited about that? Migrating birds rush north when they have a tail wind to ease their way. Birders from downstate this morning reported that hawks are migrating in droves today. If only I could climb a mountain peak this afternoon to see them, but our mountains are still snow-covered, and where the snow has melted, there's mud. It's really best to stay off the mountain trails in these conditions to avoid damaging them. In any case, tomorrow morning there'll be lots of migrating warblers and other birds to see.

On our hike this morning, Sophie and I were wowed by a very muddy red fox dashing across the road in front of us. He had a large rodent in his mouth, and was surely on his way to the den to feed the mother of his pups. For the next two months, we'll be much more likely to see foxes and coyotes in the mornings as they scramble to feed their families.

Birds from Dawn til Dusk

Going to the Birds and Wildflowers Nature Hike
Sat. April 29 9:30 am--2:00 pm

Deep snow still rules in the woods, but I've gone and hung up my snowshoes for this season. Temperatures have been in the 70s, and today we're topping 78 degrees, so it won't linger for long.

Spring birding is now in full swing. New arrivals in the past few days: white-throated sparrows (and their beautiful song), blue-headed vireos, yellow-rumped warblers, one black-throated green warbler, and I swear I heard a yellow warbler near the wetlands up the road. It's a week early for them, but not out of the question.

There's nothing like finding a comfortable rock to sit on by a stream or swamp and sitting still waiting and listening intently for bird sounds and movement. Birding in the wilderness allows the birder to focus completely, because there are no human-made sounds to distract--no planes, trucks, cars, lawnmowers, chainsaws, dogs barking, or human voices.

Don't Give Up on Spring!

April has been incredibly wintry, more so than January was this year. From my home office, I've been imagining the greening of the birch and maple trees out my window as I plan all kinds of spring nature adventures. I do believe the black flies will appear later than usual. I don't think there's a chance of them showing up before the 15th of May.

So what kind of safari suits you? This spring there's nature journaling, wilderness watercolor journaling, lots of birding adventures, and wildflower and butterfly treks. And, of course, plenty of mountain hiking.


Bicknell's Thrush
In related news, I'm going to be a volunteer for the Mountain Birdwatch program through the Audubon Society and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. Between June 1-June 21, I'll be scrambling up Crane Mountain at dawn to search for Bicknell's Thrush, a thrush that has been in the news a great deal. It's on the Audubon Watchlist, and is currently the Neotropical migrant of highest conservation priority. In New York State, Bicknell's Thrush can only be found on mountain elevations higher than 2800 feet. Crane tops out at about 3300 feet or so, so I'll be hiking (softly), listening, and recording the thrush's song on the top 500 feet of trail. I love every inch of Crane Mountain, so none of this will be a hardship. I can't think of another place I'd rather be at dawn.